Startling footage has emerged of an apparent fight between the mother and stepmother of 'Slumdog Millionaire'child star Rubina Ali.

It's claimed the women in this video are Rubina's step-mother Munni Qureshi and her biological mother Khurshid Begum.

It's not clear why they were fighting, but the footage has been released as the saga continues over claims that Rubina's father, Rafiq Qureshi, tried to sell the nine-year-old to an undercover reporter.

Khurshid Begum, the girl's estranged mother, is quoted as saying, "No father should dare sell his daughter. I came to know this because of the media. Tomorrow he may do it again, how would we know?"

Begum filed a complaint with Mumbai police on Sunday after the UK"s News of the World reported that the father planned to put her up for adoption.

Rubina's father, has denied the accusations.

The British newspaper apparently was tipped off by a family friend who said a wealthy family from the Middle East had approached the father with an adoption plan for a price.

A second deal was allegedly then offered by two of its reporters posing as a wealthy family from the United Arab Emirates, who met the family twice at a five-star hotel in Mumbai.

Police took Qureshi and Rubina from their slum home to a police station where he was briefly questioned.

Speaking to reporters outside the police station on Sunday, Qureshi denied the report.

"...they have made false allegations about me and tried to frame me."

He said he was promised cash and "were talking of giving more too" if he gave up his daughter.

"But I refused," he said.

Police said they were investigating.

"There are claims and counterclaims made by the mothers and the father," police officer Nishar Tamboli told reporters.

Slum children Rubina and young co-star Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 10, were discovered on the Mumbai streets.

The younger stars got a taste of Hollywood glamour, attending the Academy Awards.